


Too Early For Lunch

by Leni



Series: Rumbelle Meme - Fluffy Fluff McFluff [11]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, background Charming-Stiltskin family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2016-11-08
Packaged: 2018-08-29 19:58:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8503381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: “Go away,” she groaned. “It’s Sunday.”





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AnnieVH](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieVH/gifts).



> Prompt: Tickles

Belle scrunched her nose, fighting away the playful brush of her husband’s finger at the tip. When he did it again, she rolled onto her stomach, burying her face into the pillow.

The tickling moved to her earlobe instead.

“Urgh.” She shook her head, already more awake than she wanted to admit. “Go away,” she groaned. “It’s Sunday.”

Rumpelstiltskin chuckled. “If you really want me to go alone on that lunch you set up with Snow, I will.” His voice was soft, more amused than impatient. What made Belle blink was that the amusement was not at her and her unwillingness to rise from bed, but at whatever he was envisioning would come out from a lunch between the royal pair and the Dark One, with no one to referee to whom Rumpelstiltskin would listen.

Henry would be very disappointed if he had to call his mother and ask her to kiss her parents out of whichever curse Rumpelstiltskin had set on them.

Heaving a sigh, Belle sat up, rubbing her eyes as she moved. “Quit smiling like that,” she told her husband when his face came into focus. “You _like_ Snow and David.”

“I bear with their presence,” he corrected, “in order to spend more time with my grandson.” When Belle wouldn’t stop staring at him in reproach, he lifted a shoulder and admitted, “Okay, so David isn’t too bad.”

Belle chuckled - she’d seen the two men share a beer a time or two, and it wasn’t unusual to find David in the pawnshop, ostensibly to check on Henry, but in the end drifting into the back room and picking at Rumpelstiltskin’s brain while one repaired a watch or cleaned an antique, and the other played with whichever object was close at hand.

If asked, Rumpelstiltskin would claim that the king had never been invited. But Belle suspected that he didn’t mind the company, and that in exchange David could take a breather from his role as a town leader and relax with someone who knew his true origins and didn’t hold them against him.

“And Snow convinced her own family doctor to see me,” Belle reminded him.

Rumpelstiltskin’s expression softened even at this oblique mention of her pregnancy. “Fine. I won’t turn either of Their Majesties into frogs when they say something stupid.”

“ _If_ they say something stupid, don’t you mean?”

Rumpelstiltskin just arched an eyebrow.

Belle giggled. “Okay. When.”

It wasn’t perfect, but at least the two of them and the Charmings had moved from polite avoidance to reluctant communication when Henry had started helping out at the pawnshop (and later at the library, when summer came). Now there were barely any threats exchanged, and when Snow claimed that all dark magic was foul, or David insisted that brave people always fought in the front lines, Rumpelstiltskin just squeezed Belle’s hand under the table and restricted himself to sarcasm and dismissing smirks.

It still didn’t make for comfortable gatherings, but no blood was drawn at a barbed comment or two.

Belle counted that as progress.

With a yawn, she scooted closer to Rumpelstiltskin, taking the hand that had been tickling her awake and kissing his knuckles. “Thank you for trying to get along with them,” she told him sincerely, “even if you think they’re fools.”

Rumpelstiltskin looked uncomfortable at the praise, but finally smiled back. “I can’t give you the world yet,” he said, making a face at the thought of every curse that had been slapped around the town line, trapping them in their little world, “but I can make sure no one has reason to treat you unfairly. Don’t think I’m blind to what it means, to be the Dark One’s wife.”

It had not been easy. People had stared and whispered, and that had been when they were feeling polite. But the whole town loved Snow White and her husband, and those in their circle of close friends were well-liked as well. She and Rumpelstiltskin might not belong in that tier, but being acknowledged family had its perks.

“Besides,” her husband continued, “it’s not like I have my choice of family members to offer to you. It’s the fools or nothing, and even they are removed enough that we could all ignore the connection if we put our minds to it.”

Belle rolled her eyes. “As if Henry would allow that.”

Rumpelstiltskin chuckled, acknowledging that. “I only care that you’re happy, Belle,” he said, shifting and then drawing her closer until she sat on his lap with her legs still stretched across the mattress. “Even if that means breaking bread with the Charmings.”

“As long as nothing else gets broken…” Belle said, laying her head on his shoulder. There was still time before they had to head out, so what if she closed her eyes. It would only be a minute.

Her eyes opened wide when he tickled her nose again. “Rumple!”

His response to her glare was an unrepentant grin. “None of that,” he tutted reproachingly. “We don’t want to be late, do we?”

That said, Rumpelstiltskin rose to his feet, making her laugh and cling to him at the same time, as he’d gotten an arm under her thighs and was now carrying her bridal style toward the bathroom.

After a few strides, she saw the steam of the bathtub rise. But instead of her favorite smell of roses drifting out, it was the heavier scent of sandal. Rumpelstiltskin was not planning to leave her to bathe on her own, then.

“I’m starting to suspect second intentions,” she laughed.

He was smiling from ear to ear, looking down at her with tenderness even as his hand moved to pinch her bottom through her pajama pants. “Call it an incentive for good behavior.”

“I see.” She nodded solemnly, but then pressed her lips against his throat to hide a giggle. “So we get rid of the wickedness first?”

His laughter echoed in the smaller room. “It’s worth a try.”

 

The End  
07/11/16


End file.
